Task:
IELTS READING PRACTICE!
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The pursuit of happiness
How are we supposed to find happiness? Through good works and helping people? By finding religion or discovering the joys of downshifting? Whatever strategy you choose, where you live might make a difference. The latest global analysis of happiness and satisfaction levels shows that the most 'satisfied' people tend to live in Latin America, Western Europe and North America, whereas Eastern Europeans are the least satisfied.
It is not the first time such international league tables have been drawn up. What is new is how experts and politicians are taking such data increasingly seriously. Over the past decade, the study of happiness, formerly the preserve of philosophers, therapists and gurus, has become a bona fide discipline. It even has its own journal, the Joural of Happiness Studies. As a result, government policy advisers are getting interested, and politicians are using the research as the basis for new strategies.
What above all else has made systematic study possible is data gathered from hundreds of surveys measuring happiness across different cultures, professions, religions, and socio-economic groups.
Researchers can investigate the impact of money and inequality; they could explore, for example, how much difference money makes to a person's happiness after their basic material needs have been met, and whether inequality in wealth and status is as important a source of dissatisfaction as We might think. 'Itis an exciting area,' says Ruut Veenhoven, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Happiness Studies. 'We can now show which behaviours are risky as far as happiness goes, in the same way medical research shows what is bad for our health. We should eventually be able to show what kind of lifestyle suits what kind of person'.
Answer these questions with words from the text, using no more than THREE words for each answer.
1. According to the text, what could influence your level of contentment? ...............
2. Which group of people is interested in the practical implications of the research into happiness? ...............
3. Which two factors are researchers able to study in their attempt to find reasons why some people are dissatisfied? ...............
The answers are:
1. where you live
2. politicians
3. money and inequality